Ash and Roses, Chat Number 133

Oh mercy. Spring wants to be here...today was warmer, sun shining and clothes hanging on the line. Dogs and I went for long pasture walk, not long enough due to that four letter word w.o.r.k. but still better than not going for a pasture walk. Dandy Man, or someone, managed to knock down a section of fence and he was standing in the alfalfa field, happily grazing, while everyone else stood on the other side and hated him. Tumbleweed stood in place A Very Long Time and when I went to check on her, her back leg was caught up in a piece of wire that had unattached. She's a sweet ole thing and stood quietly while I got her untangled; thank God for Curly horses! They are the sweetest tempered horses with an extremely calm disposition; I'd a been killed twelve times already with "regular" horses.

It's a trick, making sure Dandy goes back into the horse pasture while keeping the others from escaping. Copious amounts of sweet feed are needed, lightness of foot (for those of you who've seen me in person, stop giggling!) and prayers interspersed with Easy, Dandy, Easy...Please God, keep us all safe; don't let them run me over...Easy, Dandy Man, Easy... All safe and sound and the fence is fixed, not really, but best I can do for now. I NEED HELP!

Patrice, Everyday Ruralty, is hosting Chats, Number 133 and I'm playing along; her questions, my answers then I'm going to show you my roses. 

1. What's your favorite method of travel? Airplane, first class, but I've only done it once and that was an upgrade. I love to travel by train and cruise ship but, usually, travel is done by vehicle with me driving. 

2. If you wear jewelry, are you more likely to wear silver or gold? Both, either and often together. Who made up the stinkin' rule you have to wear silver OR gold? It's not brain surgery or rocket science, wear what you want!

3. How often do you wear sunglasses? Been wearing glasses for more than 50 years and now have those lenses that change when you're in the sun. Hate 'em. Would rather wear sunglasses but doc can't fit me correctly. I'd love to have that surgery to correct vision but if the doc messed up, I'd have to kill his first born...when I could see better.

4. Which would be easier for you to leave undone (for a short period of time), dishes or laundry? I can pretty much leave both undone indefinitely and with no apologizes to anyone. If someone doesn't like it, they are more than welcome to do both dishes and laundry. That would sure free me up to do something else on the 1,462,839 item to-do list.

5. On a scale of 1-10 (1-hardly any+ 10- house is full), how much clutter have you collected. Hmmm, between Dave bringing 25 years+ of stuff, me bringing 25 years+ of stuff and his Mother bringing 50+ years of stuff, I'd say the clutter scale is off the charts. 10 just ain't gonna cut it. I've given away a lot of furniture...bedroom suite, 3 chairs, bed with mattress and box spring and the bare space is hardly noticeable! Seriously! Dave was a pack rat but I'm a fan of history (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) so can't bear for stuff to be thrown away. Then, I have to find the exact perfect person/place for it to be re-homed...help, help I'm drowning in stuff...

Well, let's face it; I'm a big, fat liar. Don't mean to be but there it is; I'm a big, fat liar. I keep saying, I'm going to get around to responding to comments and, dang!, it's all I can do to post every now and again. Life is overwhelming and I'm drowning in keeping it all together. Today's to-do list wasn't manageable but I thought I'd get some of it done. HA and double HAHA as it didn't happen. Between spending a couple of hours on the phone with La Quinta Inn, trying to get them to honor their word, and working onbillsandthatpasturewalkand laundryandfencefixingandeverythingelse...sigh. 

Roses. Yellow Roses. Aren't they beayoutiful?! Stateside, Dave used to bring me yellow roses and when we lived in Hawaii, he'd bring Pink Minks. My favorites but terrifically difficult to get in the Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginny.

~ start with good help ~

Anyway, I use this old McCoy vase which is, probably, as old as me and I'm getting ready to get older, and cut the roses to fit...each one with a trifle difference in height to add interest (dang, sounds like I know what I'm doing!) A big bamboo bowl is filled with water and the roses cut to size while being held underwater (help help I'm drowning!!!).

Cutting them underwater means the water, not air, is sucked up through the stem and this means they'll last a tad longer than if air cut.

The roses are, immediately, put into a vase of clear, cool water where about half a packet of chrystals (their spelling, not mine) are added. You can use aspirin or white vinegar but I use the stuff that comes with the flowers. When that's gone, I'll use ground aspirin. 

 Here, are all the stems which are thrown into the yard (recycling, doncha know) and the water poured onto my house plants. (Speaking of, need to get them off the back porch in case of frost tonight.)

The wood stove needs cleaning but the bucket first needed to be dumped of ashes. Old timers say to put the ashes near fruit trees to help stop fruit borers from ruining the fruit. 

Make sure not to get ash ON the fruit trees but pour between the trees. I think ash will scald the bark, that's why you only want ash on the ground.

This chore was done when the wind wasn't blowing so hard; that means the three minutes between noon and 11:30.

Last and least, I took a selfie. Which I find difficult to even type...who on earth comes up with such silly names...a selfie?! GAG! Anyway, Yvonne was talking about a good haircut and thanks to Sarah, of Rock, Paper, Scissors in Tazewell, I've got a great cut. About six months ago, I wanted short hair...BIG mistake but I've made it before...so she cut it short then shorter and, as usual, I've decided to let it grow out. Again. My life is so dull, I think getting a haircut is exciting. So, I was in the bathroom, looking into the mirror (is this tmi?) and thought, take a picture! So I did. My favorite cut and my favorite cut on me is a bob because, Bob is always right, isn't he? Bob's are easy to care for...just look at the above picture which was taken upon rising from my bed and without being brushed...Sarah, ye done good...the cut is rather timeless and classic in style and, when mine finishes growing out, will look even better. Now, if I could just do something about that wattle...

Blessings ~ pasture walks ~ good haircuts ~ Sarah of Rock, Paper, Scissors ~ yellow roses ~ pink minks ~ Dandy Man ~ Tumbleweed ~